


Life Support

by WhiskeyNeet



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alien/Human Relationships, F/M, Growing Romance, Mantis girls are cute, No Sex, Science Fiction, space travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-24 15:34:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22040263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhiskeyNeet/pseuds/WhiskeyNeet
Summary: Two interstellar frigate pilots are stranded between star systems after a FTL reactor failure. The two get to know each other better during the year or so it will take for their distress signal to reach anyone.
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Kudos: 3





	Life Support

Humanity had survived for much longer than anyone, or anything, could have ever thought. We’d overcome the slow death of our home planet by creating machines that took our excess greenhouse gasses and recycled them into oxygen. We’d been able to make the UN actually useful for something, maintaining environmental protection laws and processes around the world. Unified, most big political players attained what could be considered widespread peace. Once our home had been stabilized, Humanity set its eyes on the stars.

Colonization started slow. The first step was the foothold on Luna. Though the gravitational pull was too weak to terraform our tiny satellite, the base we established there turned into the launching point outward to the rest of our solar system. Mars came next, and over the course of 200 or so years, a livable atmosphere had been developed through both natural and scientific means. There were new forests covering the planet. Deep drilling determined that there was in fact water on Mars. Soon housing developments started, and hundreds of thousands of scientists and their families populated the formerly red planet.

Next was interstellar travel. Which was tedious, to say the least. Before we met with our galactic neighbors, our travel methods were limited to around seventy percent the speed of light. Though progress was slow going in those days, we were found by our neighbors as we were heading into their solar system. Cultural and trade agreements had been drawn up almost immediately, the fold of the greater galactic civilizations accepted us with open arms. With the help of our new allies, we developed our own Faster Than Light drives within a decade.

Colonization slowed, but humanity kept expanding. The laws of our universe had proven, with almost every alien race we came in contact with, that bipedal organic life was the apex of evolution. Though not every race resembled humans. Our first contact, the Kelkot, were more of a Porcine being; covered and fine hair and proudly displaying sharp tusks protruding from their mouths. There were also avian beings that sported brightly colored plumage, and were an absolute blessing to have in the shared zero gravity research and trading stations along the inner rim of the galaxy. There were several insectoid races, and a handful of reptilian races as well. Though humans had been slow to reach this point, there were still thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of civilizations around the galaxy that were still in their infancy.

Time passed, and our culture became more and more intertwined with the larger galactic community. More and more humans were born off world, while other races started to be born on Earth. After a dozen or so centuries, humanity’s galactic footprint was over 150 billion strong, located in almost every reach of the Milky Way. FTL had made the entire galaxy accessible to hundreds of races, and even more cultures. But even then, there were risks to interstellar travel. One of those risks was being stranded in the empty space between stars with a malfunctioning FTL drive. That’s where I was now.

My name is Jax, designation P-83193. A star pilot for the Para-Stellar Freight company. Glorified delivery driver, though it paid a lot better than delivering food back on my home planet. Like most living humans in the year 3275, I was born off Earth. I’d only seen my ancestral homeworld once. Designated Sol-Gamma in the Galactic Registry, Earth was still a mostly green and blue orb out in the fringes of the Milky Way. Many races called it home, and I was so proud to see what it had become from the struggling planet that I studied back in school.

Back to our predicament. Our FTL was shot. We were struck by some kind of debris as we were exiting our travel period. Every once in a while, FTL drives had to recharge, so that was the goal as we slowed. None of our other vital systems were damaged, so we were safe. Luckily, Para-Stellar prepared for just this event, and we had more than enough provisions to last us. But, it was still not the best place to be in. As I was checking our systems, making sure we wouldn’t suffocate in the empty cold of deep space, my co-pilot was sending a low-level-distress signal. Halfway between two solar systems, the signal, traveling at the crawling speed of light, wouldn’t reach anyone for quite a while. Again, as another sign of my employer’s brilliant planning, our pilots were all trained to deal with cabin fever in case of a long wait for rescue.

After ensuring that our essential systems were functioning correctly, I met with my co-pilot to discuss our next plan of action. Taking my seat at the helm of the ship and looking at our digital displays, I turned to Xyria and sighed.

“I hope you’re ready to get comfortable with me.” I let out a low chuckle. “It’ll be awhile before our signal reaches anyone.”

“Unless we’re lucky.” She tried to perk me up, and wiggled her antennae. “Maybe a passing ship will find it and take it to either system before we have to wait too long.”

I smiled. I didn’t know much about Xyria. She was fresh out of our employer’s training program, and this was her maiden voyage. I’d been happy to get such a positive co-pilot assigned to me. Not only was she an optimist, she was absolutely adorable. She was a member of one of the handfuls of mantid races that were active members in the Galactic Trade Federation, though I’m not sure which one she hailed from. Being mantid, she was slender and very elegant. She also towered over me by at least a foot and a half. Her skin was a bit rougher than your average human’s, and tinted green. Instead of eyebrows, she sported a set of deep green chitin ridges above her eyes. Her lips were made of the same color chitin, flanked by a pair of jointed mandibles, and seemed to be set in a perpetual smile. The only strange part to me was her four arms; They were straight and covered with exoskeletal plates. Though I found them quite charming, she was sometimes self conscious about the holdover from an earlier link in her race’s evolutionary chain.

Xyria’s smile was infectious, so I could hardly keep a straight face. I leaned back in the pilot’s chair, locking my hands behind my head.

“What now?” I sighed, contentedly. “We’re gonna be here for a while.”

“Well…” my insectoid co-pilot got to her feet. “Life support, artificial gravity, and other vital systems are still online, and our reactor is running just fine. I guess we can catch up on reading?”

I looked sideways at her and nodded. We had at least a year of provisions stowed away, so we didn’t have much to worry about. I looked back up at the roof of the bridge, and imagined the innumerable stars shifting and swirling around the galaxy. The immeasurable years that have passed since the dawn of recorded time set forth a beautiful ballroom dance of a billion heavenly bodies, and it would continue forever. Thoughts like that really got to me for some reason. They made me feel so insignificant and so significant at the same time. The first step in the intergalactic dance so many aeons ago set my existence into motion, so there must be some divine purpose for my being. I hoped that I’d find it within my lifetime. I straightened, and stood up.

“I’m going to head to my quarters.” I rubbed my temples in a brief show of outward frustration. “Let’s meet up at 1700 hours for dinner, and we’ll think more about what to do from there.”

Xyria nodded and switched our navigation system off. No use in wasting electricity. Chuckling to myself, I walked down the corridor that ran the length of the ship’s spine. It wasn’t a very large ship, being just a local cluster delivery vessel, but the quarters were past the mess and gym. I contemplated walking around the cargo bays to make sure the load was still safe, but I thought better of it and entered my quarters.

The one upside to a two-man crew was that we got our own rooms. Our cabins, though identical, were homey. Almost like the apartment I had back on my home planet, Ciopra. The landing was a living room with a comfortable couch, and a couple of reclining chairs. Beyond that was my bedroom, separated from the landing by a half wall and gauze curtains. To the right of my bed was the bathroom, complete with full shower, and a walk in closet. I sat on my couch, and turned the wall monitor on. Our media loop was set to feature reruns of some Ustah cartoons upon my request. Xyria had requested ancient Earth westerns instead. Some show called Little House on the Prairie was running currently. The setting was almost half a millenia ago, and I thought the dresses the girls wore were really cute. I finished the episode before I got up and moved toward my bathroom.

Once in the bathroom, I stripped and took care of the three-day stubble I’d accumulated while I was trying my best to fix our damaged FTL. Regulation compelled me to shave myself clean and trim what facial hair I did keep, though I decided comfort was more important than regulations. Afterwards I stood in the shower, letting the almost-too-warm water run over my head. I still found it hard to wrap my head around the problem that we were facing. It’s not as if it were a big deal, but I’d rather have this happen on a solo trip, or at least with someone who had more experience. Xyria was a joy to be around, but she didn’t bring much to the table for us. Though, I suppose neither did I. Hell, no one would, in this predicament. I resigned to the next year or more of stranded life, cleaned myself well, and stepped out.

I laid in my bed and listened to music until 1615 hours came around, then I threw on some gym shorts and a tee shirt to head to the canteen. Xyria wasn’t there yet, so I thought I’d get us started on the right foot and made dinner. We were lucky that the organic life throughout the galaxy only had a couple dozen foods that weren’t universally edible. Today’s meal was simple. Grilled vegetables and pan fried beef steaks. Well, not beef. But it was close enough. My co-pilot turned housemate wandered into the mess, complementing the aroma wafting through the hall. I plated up equal portions for each of us, and made way to the small metal table.

“Eat up.” I sat the plates down, and took a seat across from Xyria. “We haven’t eaten much in the past few days, and we’re both hungry.”

“I’m famished!” She said, clapping all four of her hands and wriggling her mandibles. “I thought I’d be skin and bones before we had a proper meal again!”

“Is that right?” I smiled, cutting my steak. “I didn’t know you actually had skin.”

“Hush, you.” Xyria rolled her eyes at me. Her black sclera a stark contrast to her light green face. “Just because it’s scaled doesn’t mean it’s not skin.”

“I suppose you’re right.” I mumbled around a mouthful of tuberous starch. “Looks soft.”

“I-I take care of it.” She flushed a bit as I realized what I said. Coughing, she continued. “Anyway. What’s the plan for the foreseeable future?”

“Well. I think the only thing we should schedule is exercise and routine maintenance for the equipment.” I thought, tapping my fork to my chin. “Sorry, by the way. I didn’t mean anything by what I said.”

“Don’t worry.” She said, waving her two left hands in the air, dismissing my misstep. “What about cleaning and cooking?”

“Easy.” I sat my fork down and took a drink before continuing. “Whoever doesn’t cook had to wash up.”

“That’s fair.” She nodded. “I assume the bots will still handle laundry?”

“Yep.” I pushed my plate away, having practically inhaled the food. “Unless you wanna deal with it?”

“Oh, heavens no.” She sat her plate on top of mine, stood up, and moved toward the kitchen with the dirty dishes. “Even with four arms, I can’t fold fitted sheets.”

Water ran and dishes clinked. The mess was nice and cool, and I could hardly feel myself drift off as I continued to rest my head on my hand. I had a quick dream before Xyria woke me up. It was a series of flashes, memories of my time in the academy, my first flight as a co-pilot, and my first solo flight. Things slowed as my memories crawled toward the present. I saw myself reading Xyria’s profile and accepting her as my charge. I felt the ship in the gravity dock shake as it was loaded with our cargo. I sensed the softness of my co-pilot’s hand as I shook it for the first time. I felt that softness again as she grabbed my free hand and brushed my hair from my face.

“Hey.” She whispered. “I know you’re sleepy, you’ve been squeezed against our FTL for three days after all, but if you sleep here you’ll be even more sore in the morning.”

“Yeah.” I stifled a yawn and raised my head. “You’re right, I should get an early night tonight. I think we both deserve our fair share of rest.”

“I’m glad you agree.” Xyria smiled. Her mandibles twitched and laid against her lips when she realized that her hand was still on mine. “Sorry! I didn’t me- Ah! I’m going to head to my quarters!”

I laughed as she retreated down the hall. I could almost feel her blush from here. Or was that mine? Sighing, and stretching, I stood up. It was quite a bit later than I thought it was. Now was as good a time as any to catch some rack time. Making my way to my room, I noticed that Xyria’s door was cracked open slightly. I leaned across the hallway, said a quick goodnight, and punched the access panel. The door slid shut with a hermetic hiss, and mine followed shortly after. Leaning against the door, I sighed deeply. I didn’t think our situation would be bad, quite the contrary, but damned if being around someone of the female persuasion wasn’t a wakeup call. God, I was awkward.

Xyria woke me up at 0700 hours the next morning. My ceiling lit up with a view from my peephole. Making sure I was clothed, I swung my legs over the edge of my bed and issue the command for my door to open. My copilot had seen no reason to dress in our regulation uniforms since we weren’t doing any kind of work for the next year. Spinning her right two arms around, she smiled and asked if I wanted to catch some gym time with her. I agreed, stepped into my bathroom to change into my gym clothes, and headed to the spacious fitness hold. We helped each other stretch and do some light bodyweight fitness before jumping into a half court game of basketball.

The odd thing about this sport was that it was almost universal. 80% of the known species in the galaxy, even the more primitive planet-bound ones, had a game that involved putting a ball through a hoop. Having four arms was a huge advantage for Xyria. She was an absolute beast on defense and blocked almost every attempt to steal that I made. Next time we played ball, I was going to give myself a damned handicap. I think five points would be fair if we were playing to ten. After being thoroughly spanked on the court, I sank against the far wall from the hoop. Xyria kept sinking baskets as I recovered my breath. The rock fell through the hoop one final time as she turned towards me and smiled. She walked toward me and offered me her hand. Helping me up, she laughed.

“So what now?” He mandibles twitched with mirth. “I don’t think you could keep this up all day.”

“There’s no way I could.” I sighed, wiping sweat from my brow. “We’ve got three petabytes of entertainment from across the galaxy to get through.”

“I suppose we could have a daily watch party.” One of her arms wrapped around my shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” My breath was finally returning to me. “Just not used to the ship’s gravitational pull.”

“Can’t say I know how you feel.” She chuckled. “My exoskeletal plating helps mitigate the force that the ship outputs.”

“That explains why you could jump like you did.” I put my hand on hers, lingering just a little bit too long before moving away from her. “Let’s wash up and meet in the mess hall for some TV.”

She nodded and vocalized in the affirmative. We walked back to our quarters, making small talk about what we wanted to watch. After showering, I decided to wear another set of pyjamas. No reason not to be comfortable. When I left my room, Xyria’s door was wide open, and the lights were off. I guess she beat me to the canteen. In the mess hall, the sound and smell of popping corn filled the air, and the couch from the common area was already set with blankets and pillows.

“Hey!” Xyria called from the kitchen. “Did you fall asleep in the shower?”

“Must have.” I replied sitting on the couch and adjusting pillows around my body. “Or you took a military shower.”

“Habit.” The popcorn was slowing now, and Xyria didn’t have to speak over it. “But I’m still as clean as you are when I turn off the shower.”

“Probably.” I nodded, knowing she couldn’t see me. “But I like to enjoy the water.”

“I getcha.” She said, coming out of the kitchen holding a big bowl of popcorn and two Ustah beers. “I figured there’s no reason not to enjoy ourselves, and thanks to the Vristrok/Errat Trade Treaty, we can break into whatever cargo we want to.”

The Vristrok/Errat Trade Treaty came around when a Silicone based race known as the Errat began a small planet wide skirmish with their neighbors, a Carbon based race known as the Vristrok. The reason for this treaty is because the Vristrok tradesman got snowed in for their world’s incredibly harsh winter and used the materials he was hauling in his personal fabricator to create the food he needed to survive his time stranded. There was no real war, but with each race cut off from the other, food and power supplies started dwindling, the opposing sides came together to create the agreement. The treaty boiled down to any commerce vessel carrying edible goods was allowed to consume those goods in the event of an emergency as long as the reimbursement from the party who hired the commerce vessel was equal to the supplies consumed. When the Vristrok and Errat reached the stars and came in contact with the other galactic civilizations, the treaty followed them and was adopted by every space faring species in the galaxy. Luckily, our company had insurance like you wouldn’t believe, so we’ve been advised, in a situation that equated to being stranded, to use anything we were carrying if we so desired. Xyria desired beer.

“Thank the stars for insurance.” I laughed, cracking the wax seal on the corked bottle of beer. “And God bless the Ustah for making a decent drink.”

“Cheers!” Xyria clinked the bottom of her bottle against mine. “We’ve got enough of this stuff in the holds to drown a small city, so drink up.”

Drink up we did. Xyria and I put away at least eight of the bottles of strong amber liquid each. The movie we had started was slowly drowned out by our raucous laughter and the embarrassing stories we traded. At some point, after we were both satisfactorily blitzed, we’d fallen asleep on each other. I’m greatly aware of this fact because I’d woken up at some point during the night and grabbed a blanket to cover us up. I was careful not to wake Xyria doing so, though I found my gaze lingering on the slender form of my insectoid companion. Normally I wouldn’t have made such a big deal about the fact that she was cuddled up to me, the mess hall was cold due to the climate control systems cycling less during our “nighttime hours”. Though something caught my eye. Xyria’s pyjamas had slid off her shoulders, exposing her small, pert chest. I could feel myself flush with shame for seeing her in such a compromising position, but I’d dare not try and remedy the situation for the risk of waking her. Averting my eyes, I wrapped a second blanket around her before covering us both up. I fell back asleep shortly after, trying not to burn a hole in the couch with my cheeks.

I suppose the night passed by without any other incident, because the day lamps in the mess woke me up on an empty couch. After folding the blanket I was left with, I stowed it in the canteen closet. Keying up my communicator, I announced I was awake.

“Mornin’.” Xyria half grunted in response.

Realizing there was an echo, I turned around and smiled. “Went a bit too far last night, huh?”

“Don’t start.” She sighed, turning back to the scrambled eggs. “If I had an extra hour of sleep like you, I’d be in top shape.”

“I’m sure.” I smirked, walking towards the canteen counter. “Want me to take over? You can go get a shower and maybe some electrolyte tablets?”

“Way ahead of you, Jax.” She unsnapped the clip holding up her hair. Her long beige locks tumbled down, obviously still damp.

“Shame.” I cast my eyes downward and tried to change the subject. “Did you see the end of the movie?” 

“Nope.” She started plating up breakfast. “I can’t even remember what we were watching.”

“Some Ustah arthouse junk.” I laughed, and pulled a chair out for her. “Not really all that different from the same stuff produced by any other species out there.”

“Indie shit is indie shit the galaxy over, huh?” She smiled at me, her mandibles twitching with eagerness towards the plate as she sat down.

“That’s the truth.” I sat down and tucked in.

Weeks passed in the same manner, I found myself getting used to the artificial gravity, and won a few games of ball. Xyria and I took turns in the kitchen, and both of us could tell that the other was getting more skilled and enjoyed pretty much every meal. Occasionally Xyria and I would crack open the case of wax sealed beer and drink ourselves into a stupor while watching bad movies.

“Hey.” Xyria slurred.

It was one of our drinking nights, and the credits of some bad earth movie had just started rolling.

“Yeah?” I rolled my head towards her, hiccuping around my words. “Wanna watch another movie?”  
“Nope. I’ve another idea.” She leaned against me heavily, resting her head on my shoulder. “We should go to bed.”

“I’m not against that.” I started to scoot away to get up, but Xyria wrapped both set of arms around me and held fast.

“I mean we, as in us.” She flushed, and her mandibles were set twitching. “I don’t want help to my quarters, I want help to yours.”

My jaw dropped. I was sure that I’d noticed Xyria fighting with herself, trying to force something that she felt shouldn’t be down. But, I mean, I’m not the most attentive person in the world, so all of the “Are you okay?”s and “Can I help you with anything?”s were just to make sure my co-pilot was in fighting shape. I assumed just a brief fit of homesickness or something, but I was way off the mark with that. Though, hell, I’d been kinda fighting with the idea of it myself. It was really just a passing interest for me. A thought to keep me warm against the coldness of the surrounding emptiness just beyond our hull. Though maybe it could have been more than that? I just know that I was sobering up from the thought of being with my tall, slender, cute copilot more and more.

“O-oh.” I stuttered through my words, a shudder of anxiety ran down my spine. “I’m not against that idea either. I might have made the invitation if I didn’t feel like I’d be misusing my rank. I don’t want to pressure you into anything that you’re not inter-”

“Be quiet, Jax.” She put a finger to my lips, and smiled at the widening of my eyes. “Your rank has nothing to do with this.”

She softly grabbed my face and brought my lips to hers. I can’t really describe the feeling as well as I’d like to. Her chitinous lips were softer than I’d expected, and her mandibles twitched against my cheeks, as if they were trying to hold on to me as well. Sinking into the kiss, my eyes slowly lidded themselves as I wrapped my arms around her neck. Time seemed to slow, and the room spun around us as our tongues intertwined and the lingering alcohol in our breath mixed. Things changed in the microcosm of the universe that was the interior of out little cargo ship somewhere out in the cold darkness of space. The stars continued their eternal dance. The same dance that was started countless aeons ago. Countless galaxies continued their spinning course as our universe maintained its expansion. Who knows where we’d end up, but I knew that it didn’t matter right then. What mattered is that my cosmic destiny was intertwining with Xyria’s for the brief moment in time we were sharing. It had been a long few months aboard a slowly drifting space truck, and she and I both needed the closeness.

While time seemed to have slowed to a crawl, we moved faster than I’d thought possible. In the space between heartbeats we made it to my quarters, and Xyria had me seated firmly on my bed. My copilot ran a finger along my jawline before softly poking my nose. Standing in front of me, one set of hands on her hips and the other running through her hair, she struck an alluring pose. The absurdity made us both laugh until we couldn’t breathe. She tossed herself onto my bed, hiding her face in amongst the pillows.

“Hey.” I said to her, falling backwards. “You don’t have to push yourself.”

Her reply was muffled, but firm.

“I mean it.” I turned towards her, brushing her hair from her cheek. “We’ve got all the time we need to get comfortable with each other.”

Xyria rolled over, looking at me with one eye. A tear stood out on her lower lid, but the yellow star of her iris shone brightly against the inky black sky of her sclera.

“I wanted this.” She mumbled, half muffled by the pillows. “I want you.”

“I want this too, Xyria.” I gave her a soft smile and laid my hand on one of hers. “But when it’s more comfortable for you.”

“You laughed at me!” She rolled over onto her side, pouting.

“You laughed first!” I teased her.

She let out a yawn before positioning herself more comfortably on my bed. Kicking my feet up, I joined her. Xyria was holding my hand now, using both of her right hands to keep me from pulling away. I gave one of her hands a firm squeeze.

“Can I stay here tonight?” She pulled my hand up to her lips, her mandibles tickling my palm. “I don’t want to be alone.”

“Why not?” I shrugged my shoulders and smiled at her. “It’d be rude to make you move after you’ve settled.”

Xyria scooched close to me and wrapped her lower arms around my waist. Her upper arms worked their way around my neck and her lips met mine again. She smiled against me and closed her eyes. We cuddled and shared small kisses until one of us, I’m not sure who, drifted off.

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Proofreading done by Retroactivelydead, be sure to check out their work!  
> https://archiveofourown.org/users/retroactivelydead/pseuds/retroactivelydead


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